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TMZ has obtained text messages between convicted killer Mackenzie Shirilla and her late boyfriend Dominic Russo, drawn from the original police investigation.
The text messages that Mackenzie Shirilla exchanged with her boyfriend Dominic Russo in the years before she killed him in a deliberate high-speed crash have been made public for the first time. TMZ obtained the message chain through the case’s police file and posted it this week.
Shirilla is serving a sentence in Ohio after being convicted of killing Russo and a friend, Davion Flanagan, in 2022. She drove her car into a brick wall in Strongsville, Ohio, at roughly 100 mph with both men as passengers.
The newly public messages span the months leading up to the crash. TMZ’s full transcript of the text chain, sourced from the police case file, shows a relationship marked by emotional volatility, frustration with Russo’s conduct, and references to her own physical and mental health.
The messages cover ordinary teenage friction. The pair discussed Shirilla’s housing situation, her fears about pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and her unhappiness with how Russo treated her. One thread captures Russo telling Shirilla he had crashed his mother’s car.
A second batch of text messages, presented as a photo gallery, focuses on the final days before the crash. In those, Shirilla complains about Flanagan taking too long to get into the car. The tone reads as frustrated, not threatening.
Police, prosecutors, and Shirilla’s defense team all relied on the text chain during the trial. The defense argued the messages painted a picture of a turbulent but otherwise typical teenage relationship. The prosecution used the same texts to argue that Shirilla had grown increasingly hostile toward Russo in the months before the crash.
The case attracted national attention when surveillance footage from the crash was released. The video showed Shirilla’s car accelerating directly into a brick wall with no apparent attempt to brake. The bench ruling, citing both the texts and the physical evidence, concluded the act was intentional.
TMZ’s running coverage of the Shirilla case has also surfaced a separate angle this week. A former cellmate of Shirilla’s, Kat Crowder, told the outlet that Shirilla has been running an informal jewelry business from inside prison, taking payment from other inmates via Cash App.
Shirilla is housed in an Ohio state correctional facility.
The texts add another data point to a case that has been litigated, appealed, and re-examined repeatedly. They do not appear to change the public record of what happened. They only clarify what came before it.
